Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING August 19, 2019 Laconia Community Center- Parks & Recreation Office 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner Mitch Hamel called the meeting to order at the above date and time. RECORDING SECRETARY: Secretary Liza Kelleher recorded this meeting. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Chair Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Tony Pederzani and Arthur Kirk. Absent- Deanna Guyer and Rodney Roy. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek, Asst. Director of Recreation and Facilities Matthew Mansur and Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of July 15, 2019 Commissioner Tony Pederzani moved to adopt the minutes from July 15, 2019. Seconded by Commissioner Arthur Kirk. The motioned passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Lakes Region Chamber- Opechee Park, Rotary Park & Gateway Park- October 18 and 19, 2019, Friday and Saturday for NH Pumpkin Festival. Set up on Friday and event on Saturday until midnight. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request pending upon special event approval permit and the final approval from the City Council for the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival event. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. B. New Horizons Musical Organization of the Lakes Region- Rotary Park- August 20, 2019, Tuesday from 7:00-9:00pm for a band concert. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to remove the request from the table. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Evangelical Baptist Church- Opechee Point beach and restroom- Sunday, September 8, 2019 from 11:00am to 3:00pm for church picnic and baptism. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of $100.00 user fee and key deposit of $25.00 per key if needed. Seconded by Commission Pederzani. All were in favor. D. Checklist for Facility Use Request- Outstanding balance was added in the Facility Use Request box to indicate who owes the department money before the request is approved. The department is looking to differentiate between special events vs. large events. The large events could have more impact on the facilities, large fees charged, loss of revenue to the City and potential displacement of park users. The fee is structured with a minimum of $300 with no maximum stated in the form. The amount charged is dependent on the impact of the facility and determined by the Commission. Commissioner Hamel asked the other Commissioners to consider these changes to discuss at the next meeting. No action was taken until our next Commission meeting.  E. Muskrats Contract – Michael Smith (co-owner) has the original plans for the green monster pavilion that were developed by the original owner of the Muskrats and does plan to have this completed. He will have the current structure inspected to be sure it is sound. Commissioner Hamel asked Michael to notify the Commission if the plans need to be changed and Michael agreed. Commissioners reminded Michael about the Banner Policy and asked that this policy be followed. Director Lovisek will email the Banner Policy to Michael for his records. No action was taken and Commissioner will continue the discussion in the next Commission meeting. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Laconia High School Athletics- Fall 2019 (Beginning August 19th to November 1st 2019) Football-Bobotas when turf is not available Monday-Friday 3:00-6:30pm (until November 24th) Boys Soccer- Robbie Mills/Leavitt Park 2:00-5:30 practice days, 3:00-8:00 game days Girls Soccer- Robbie Mills/Leavitt Park 2:00-5:30 practice days, 3:00-8:00game days Field Hockey-Smith Field 3:00-6:00pm Monday-Friday for practices, all games on the turf at LHS Cross Country Track- Trail system at Risley/Robbie Mills, 3:00pm to 5:00pm for practice for the meets on September 14th from 8:00am to Noon. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. Spring 2020 (April 1st until June 6th, 2020) Baseball- Robbie Mills 2:30-6:30 practice days, 2:30-7:30 game days, 8:00-noon Saturdays Softball- Opechee Park 2:30-5:30 Practice days, 2:30-6:30 game days, 8:00-noon Saturdays Track & Field- Smith Track 2:30-6:00 Practice days, 2:30-dark for meets Boys & Girls Lacrosse- Bobotas when turf is occupied Monday-Friday 2:30-6:00 (once or twice a week) Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request, key deposit of $25.00 per key is required if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. B. The Downtown Gym/Real Life Santa’s Pubmania Team- WOW Trail- Saturday, November 30, 2019 from 8:00am to noon for Real Downtown Santa’s Santa Shuffle and Family Fun Run. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request and waived the user fee. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Caldwell Banker Cares- WOW Trail- Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 10:00am to 1:00pm for 3rd annual Poker Walk. Commissioner Kirk motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. D. Winnipesaukee Muskrats- Memorial Baseball- Saturday & Sunday, October 12 & 13, 2019 from 9:00am to 6:00pm for the Muskrats Senior Fall Baseball Classic. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon submission of the tournament fee of $300.00  and submission of the certificate of insurance. A deposit of $25.00 per key is required if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. E. District 11 Alcohol Anonymous- Opechee Point- Sunday, September 15, 2019 from 11:00 to 5:00pm for end of summer picnic. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request, a deposit of $25.00 per key is required and the use of 20lbs. propane gas for barbeque was waived. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following request have been approved administratively: A. Leavitt Park Community Club- Leavitt Park Field- August 16 & 17, 2019, Friday 5:00pm to 8:00pm and Saturday 10:00am to 8:00pm. B. Kate Fife & Tim McDonald Wedding- Rotary Gazebo- October 12, 2019, Saturday from 3:0pm to 6:00pm for a wedding ceremony. C. Melissa Cady & Adam French wedding- Rotary Gazebo- August 10, 2019, Saturday from 3:00pm to 6:00pm for a wedding ceremony. D. Rikki French & Jon Cook wedding- Rotary Gazebo- August 3, 2019, Saturday from 3:00pm to 5:30pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Capital Improvement Plan- The deadline for the CIP will be September 10th. Commissioner Hamel mentioned about the netting at Robbie Mills is really important to protect the spectators. Skate park improvements was discussed and Commissioner Hamel asked which is better and cost effective to be considered for the skate park, between the steel and concrete. The steel is cheaper of the 2 option, it should be painted every two years for maintenance to protect the coating and the concrete is more expensive because of the drainage requirements needed and maintenance, which involves fixing cracks and chips in the concrete. Maintenance Garage Design for the property that was purchased by the City on Wilson Court, which is directly behind the current garage. There is a need for the extra space because of our storage at State school property is gone. Commissioner Hamel requested Director Lovisek to email the Commissioners the finalized item list for consideration. B. Sanborn Park Parking- Commissioner Hamel discussed that the new developer of Lakeport is in need of more parking in the Lakeport area. If it’s under used it could be a possibility to use for parking space. The green space has been used by Laconia Little League and soccer pickup games previously. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association- No report. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report. C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek While this month has been very busy, having Matt the new Assistant Director here has helped significantly. He has really stepped up and has learned on the fly. Starting this job in mid- summer is difficult to say the least and he has shown himself to be an asset to our department. We met with the Laconia Police Department in regards to the 4th of July and how best to accomplish our goals for next year. We have a plan in place and it is going to take some give and take from both departments. We have hired a replacement for Argee Whittier, who retired last month, and his name is Joe Link. He is coming to us from the Tilton School and has the experience we were looking for in an employee. Joe will start with us on August 26th. Our maintenance department really struggled this summer. We had 1 seasonal full timer to work with the crew, 1 full timer who worked on the gardens throughout the city and 1 part timer that does many different tasks as needed. Keeping in mind that we were also down 1 full time employee. This left us unable to accomplish many of our goals this summer and will continue into the fall. Youth and Interscholastic sports have begun and we are preparing fields as necessary. I met with a few Leavitt Park Association members to discuss new procedures for depositing moneys. Our goal is to deposit all checks and cash (including the deposits) at least once per month. The parks office will do the paperwork to reimburse those who should receive their deposit back. No more holding onto checks or cash. Projects: • Bartlett Beach and Bond Beach Erosion/Drainage Projects Bond Beach is still on hold through Labor Day. Bartlett Beach has its design completed, now the engineering firm is pulling wetland permits from the NHDES. Once those are complete we will send out the RFP for construction. • Native American Sculpture The Winnipesaukee Muskrats have decided on a firm to print the statue. The process is significantly more money than expected. Their plan is to fundraise throughout the fall/winter and have the statue ready for summer of next year. They are thinking of just before July 4th. DPW is planning to take the re-bar out of the base of the statue. This will allow us to remove the temporary fencing. • Wyatt Park Irrigation This project is now complete. • Perley Pond Project Donavan Tree Experts out of Meredith will be doing the pruning of the oak tree. The work is scheduled to be completed on September 23rd in the morning hours, unless there is severe weather. The City Manager approved RSF to proceed with the wetland permitting with a reduced scope of work with the following language. Perform assessment and develop recommendations for scope of an initial project. Scope is anticipated to include removal of alders, dredging, and addition of native vegetation at edge of pond. • Opechee Park Pavilion There are no new updates • Riverwalk The Riverwalk on both the City Hall and Landmark Inn sides have been mostly completed. Small items to “touch up” the area are still needed. The 2 new additions are lovely and I would recommend taking a walk some day and looking at what was accomplished. • Gale Avenue Park This project did not get funded through this year’s budget. No new updates. • Banner Poles This was a project Kevin Dunleavy started with the TIF Board. Krista Larson the Assistant Director of DPW and I are now stepping into the project. We have the location and have been in contact with a company to engineer and take drilled soil samples for the project. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur This has been a pretty successful month. That being said, I do not have anything to reference it against. Along with on-boarding, the majority of this month has been spent focusing on our beaches and our own Opechee Day Camp. Opechee Day Camp Camp has been running well. Our parents seem very happy with the program. Relatively speaking, our campers have been behaving and enjoying themselves. There are obviously exceptions to that statement, but our staff have communicated with parents effectively about any behaviors that do arise. We have a few campers who will say they are bored – which is to be expected with such a range in ages. The Peanut Carnival was very successful. Our staff are also hitting the customary summer camp wall. We have had examples of dragging, extended free periods, and making the proverbial mountain out of a molehill. All of these are fairly common in the summer camp world, but I look forward to limiting some of these challenges next year. Kathleen, Alex, Serena, Victoria, and Jen have done well and deserve highlighting. The camp’s end of year party will be on Friday August 23rd at Noon at Opechee Parkhouse. You are all invited to come and celebrate the successful year and enjoy lunch, a talent show, and awards! Beaches Weirs – The Weirs has been a battle. To be blunt, we are weathering the storm to finish the season. Over the last month, we lost three staff to better jobs. We were fortunate to be able to hire three quality staff for the remaining month – with a fourth that we had to let go. With the lack of staff, problem- solving the scheduling has required considerable time and energy. Our Beach Supervisor, Jenifer Bennert’s, optimism, flexibility, and dedication to the Weirs has been crucial. Without Lifeguards, our Beach Attendants are left on an island in terms of cleaning, parking, and - the most challenging - rule enforcement. For the most part, patrons listen to and follow the beach regulations, but the few that refuse challenge both consistency and authority. Our staff are put in a tough spot when trying to enforce some of the minor rules (i.e. floatation devices - do they call the police on someone using a float). In-Town Beaches – The lack of staff has certainly affected the other beaches as well. Some have been left unsupervised with the exception of our Beach Supervisor/Evening Attendant driving by infrequently. Next year we will need to re-educate some patrons on our rules early on. Having our lifeguards back will help in this aspect and, therefore, must be a high priority. Additional Areas Attempts to establish a pickleball clinic stalled with our targeted instructors by concerns over liability and employment. A Day of Caring has been setup through the United Way on September 25th to clear back vegetation on the WOW Trail and finish trimming brush at Weirs Community Park. The CIP process has been exciting and fun to learn. I appreciate Amy and Tim for listening to my lofty ideas for some of our facilities! C. Foreman’s Report submitted by Tim Ford Weekly mowing – fields, parks, city buildings. Every 3 weeks – cemeteries Irrigation – charge, repair (valves, damaged heads) Wire up outlets for clocks in new systems (Wyatt, Memorial SB) Set up for LRGS and Nor’easter tournaments – (Op, Mem SB, WHS) barrels, fences, electric panel Deep tine aerate fields – LP, RM, Bobotas, Lower, Mem BB & SB  York Rake Beaches Septic tank pumping at Robbie Mills Drag Memorial SB 3 days per week Robbie Mills – prep for Muskrat and Sr. Muskrat games Drag Memorial BB for Legion Paint lines for softball and baseball Paint Soccer lines for youth and school teams Paint football lines at Bobotas. Lower Field Set up soccer goals and nets for youth and school Remove broken picnic tables from parks – repair if able Water Gateway plants in pots as needed Daily trash pick-up from ground Weed beds – LCC, Busy Corner, Stewart, Gateway, Rotary, Vet. Square, Library, Millstone, LFD, LPD Prune shrubs – Vet Sq, RM, LPD, OP, Mem Renovate lawn at LFD – power rake, aerate, add compost, slice seed, Fertilize, daily watering Renovate Gateway lawn (behind sign) same as with LFD XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Pederzani motioned to adjourn at 8:52pm. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commissioner Chair This meeting facility is ADA accessible. Any person with a disability who wishes to attend this public meeting and needs additional accommodations, please contact Cheryl Hebert, meeting ADA coordinator, at City Hall by calling (603) 527-1265 at least 72 hours in advance so that the City can make any necessary arrangements.